This invention relates to the cleaning and disinfecting of contact lenses. In particular the invention relates to apparatus in which the cleaning and disinfecting of the lenses is effected by immersing the lenses in a non-chemosterilant aqueous fluid and subjecting the lenses to ultrasonic vibrations.
To avoid eye infections and irritation it is highly desirable that contact lenses be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected at regular intervals. Some systems have proposed immersing the lenses in a cleaning or disinfecting liquid and also heating the liquid. Such systems have not provide very satisfactory in practice.
It has also been proposed to use ultrasonic vibrations to assist the cleansing but the apparatus used has generally been rather bulky and complicated. Usually it has been proposed that in a first step the lens should be subjected to ultra-sonic vibration to loosen impurities and then in second step the lens be disinfected by heating in a chemical disinfecting solution. The heating in the solution results in promoting coagulation of a coating on the lens which reduces its transparency with time.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved and relatively simple and portable apparatus for conducting this type of cleaning and disinfecting of contact lenses without the need to use chemosterilants.